Good morning. Welcome to Aspera. You’ve been sleeping for a very long time. Your dreams have been lucid, no doubt. You hear the alarm, smell the coffee, feel the reflexive pull of the inbox. Just another day. But this is the reality: we are, all of us, floating in space. And there are still songs to be sung as we sail between the stars. At least six of them, by our count, now available on our new EP called “Hypersleep”. You can find them on Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon, and every other digital space that would have us. Thank you for listening. Have a safe a pleasant journey. Try not to blow up the ship.

Before the new millennium, a message was recorded to a cassette tape from a bedroom in the suburbs, on a planet not unlike our own. That cassette found its way to the 21st century, where it was recently recovered. We tried to make sense of this transmission, as it’s the only copy in existence. Please. Listen. Decipher. Respond.

"Have you ever had one of those totally visceral reactions to an album — like you’re overcome by the urge to, like, stand up in your chair or pump your fist in the air or maybe just yell 'yes!' loudly at the top of your voice? That was me, from top to tails of Adrift, the completely intriguing and magnificent new album from Minneapolis band Greycoats. I kept wanting to tell someone, anyone that this album was great — ended up texting three or four of my super-baffled friends — 'OMG OMG OMG, you need to hear this album, dude. It’s like this crazy, romantic, gorgeous space opera, like nothing you’ve heard in the last 30 years.' Replies ranged from 'OK' to 'OK?' The latter, I think, wondering if I was okay. But I was, it’s just that — albums like this don’t come along very often."

We've been sitting on this one for a while. Before the album, before the "Cleopatra" video, before the spaceship, we took our first trip to Ralph Rapson's Glass Cube with Nate & Angela Matson and the Spaces crew to perform and film three brand new songs in a foreign space. We didn't know how it'd sound. We didn't know how the songs would come together. It was the first time we'd ever played them live. Lyrics were being finished in the van on the way there. This was May of 2014. The world was younger then. It was the start of a journey that will come full-circle as we transform into balls of energy and light at our Album Release show this Saturday. Wait, did we just give away the surprise ending?

Better yet, pick up a copy in person at our album release show atPaikka in St. Paul, MN with Charlie Van Stee & Low-Gain on Saturday, November 21. It'll be our best show yet. You can find tickets here.

You are a still a crew member aboard spacecraft Aspera. Or is it Aspera II? There was news of an accident. And we appear to be drifting in space, while you appear to be drifting in and out of hypersleep.

Good morning.

Your in-flight entertainment will still be provided by GREYCOATS. While you were sleeping, they recorded sounds of their experience between the stars. Their new album will be performed on stage and available for purchase in the ship's lounge. Sales will fund their voyage home. Of course, the escape pods stopped working long ago, but a bribe's a bribe and there's always a chance.

The ship has picked up a few additional hitchhiking entertainers along the interstellar highway:

LOW-GAIN now has a standing gig over social hour in the Aspera Lounge. He bends circuits, transfers wires and is possibly a cyborg.

CHARLIE VAN STEE is certainly not human, but entirely organic and always welcome in the Great Hall, where his songs bring solace to the homesick.

The controls have been a little shaky, but you may still be called upon to keep things intact.

We're happy to share our latest music video for "Cleopatra" from our upcoming album, "Adrift". Directed by Corey Gaffer, it was filmed at Ralph Rapson's Glass Cube in western Wisconsin. Ralph was one of the most prolific and well-loved architects of the 20th century. It was a huge honor to be welcomed into the space by his son Toby and daughter-in-law Janet.

Architecture MN debuted the video on their site and you can read a little more about our experience there in this feature article from their Sep/Oct issue.

We paid a few visits to Ralph Rapson’s famed Glass Cube in Western Wisconsin. Check out our recent interview in Architecture MN magazine and watch for a new music video from Corey Gaffer and a performance in the Cube for the series spaces.

You are a crew member aboard spacecraft Aspera. You’ve just awoken from hypersleep on an interstellar flight. Good morning. The ship’s been on auto-pilot for hundreds of years. But now, it’s up to you to keep the ship intact. Certainly, your memory’s a little foggy. Trust your instincts. Follow the instructions. You’ll do fine.

Your in-flight entertainment will be provided by us. For your pioneering spirit, we will debut never-before-heard songs from their upcoming album. Each set will feature projection mapping and bring us closer to our destination. Showtimes begin at 9:30pm, 10:30pm, 11:30pm, 12:30am and 1:30am.